A Note from Greg

I'M OUT: Home Sweet Home! Home yesterday--Monday--late afternoon and it was the best feeling to just walk into my house, walk around the yard, and sit on my own patio after 17 days in the hospital. I think that must be what it feels like to break out of prison! I was sent home on oral antibiotics for 10 more days and have a bunch of other meds and a strict diet to follow, but I came home without a port. (I consider that a major victory!) I will have blood drawn as an out-patient every few days and those results will determine if I will need to go in for more dialysis or not. We will be making those determinations a day at a time. I'll be taking the next couple weeks off from work to recuperate and regain my strength. Right now I'm still really tired and weary and a little slow in speech and thought because of all the drugs. The portion of scripture that spoke to me while in the hospital was when Abraham was told by an angel that he and Sarah would have a baby: 18. Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, "So shall your offspring be." 19. Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead-since he was about a hundred years old-and that Sarah's womb was also dead. 20. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God. Romans 4:18-20 (NIV) When I was in the hospital I felt led to pray for my kidney and call it back to life. As strange as that sounds, that is what I am doing. As we are praying for my kidney, that it will take over and be able to do its job, I have much faith and hope against hope that the Lord will bring it around. It may be close to dead, but my hope is that he will do it without dialysis. Thank you, friends and family, for your prayers and notes while I was in the hospital. Again I must say I am so humbled and overwhelmed by such gracious love of God from you all. You give me courage and strength. In his "story" and partnership with you, Greg

Prayer Report and Request

Well, we are on day 14 in the hospital and I must say it is getting old. Greg's sepsis infection is under control as well as the Cellulitis. His White Blood Count is almost back to normal. They might even be taking him off the IV antibiotics today and switching him to oral ones. The infection attacked both of his knees and one elbow so Greg could not walk or hardly move without severe pain for several days. The doctors never really agreed on what it was -- likely some type of reactive arthritis flare-up or a form of gout. At any rate, they finally added steroids to his IV's and that rapidly took care of the joint inflammation. He is walking very well and is almost dancing:-) His spirits are great and he is almost back to his normal self, joking and talking and enjoying a roomful of company. The nurses are awesome to put up with the commotion. Luckily he has a large room. Our challenge yet is with his kidney. The kidney numbers went down so low that he has been on dialysis for three days. Yesterday and today they stopped it to see if his kidney would be able to take over. We wait to see what will happen. There are some signs that the kidney wants to do its job. A couple days ago during dialysis the nurse told Greg that he was having a hard time keeping his blood pressure under control. He explained that it was really a good thing and not a bad thing because it meant that the kidney was still "thinking" and wondering where the blood was, so it was raising Greg's blood pressure to try to find more blood. Aren't our bodies amazing? Also, some of the kidney markers are actually up instead of down. A little mysterious. We will meet with the kidney doctor maybe tomorrow or Sunday. He is working with us to give that little diseased kidney one more chance for life. Because of Greg's medical history he is not a candidate for a kidney transplant, so what happens here is crucial as to whether or not he will be tied to a dialysis machine the rest of his life. Of course, never say never in the kingdom of God, but medically speaking when the kidney has the dialysis machine to help it, it sometimes says, "Great! Now I can relax!" and stops working. That's why these next few days and weeks are so important. We know the odds medically are not good and we won't be stupid, but a year ago Greg was sitting with a Stage IV cancer diagnosis and now one year later his cancer is significantly decreased (the latest radiologist report said, "near resolution" in his lungs!) with no chemo or radiation or surgery. Those odds weren't so good either, but we have a God who heals. Now if I were Greg I would give you a little sermon right now, but since I am not I will simply ask for you to pray in agreement with us. Greg feels he is supposed to pray and call this little kidney back to life. When he was at the MacNutt healing retreat this February one of the people praying for him saw a picture of his kidney being held up to God. As she watched it a little green sprout, or shoot, popped out of the diseased kidney...signifying life and new growth? So will you please pray with us that this little kidney will grow new life? We worship an awesome God and he is more than able. So unless he lets us know otherwise, we pray for life and healing and health because we know that is who he is. Thank you. Love, Jeane

A Note from Greg & Jeane

Dear Friends and Family,

What a rocky week it has been this past week, with blood pressures, blood sugars, white blood cell count and kidney function leaving us with a swirl of numbers and treatments and priorities to sort out. Greg is on day ten in the hospital. The roller coaster of ups and downs that has been our past week has culminated in a D-Day of sorts: The sepsis infection is not improving as it should. Greg's kidney function goes up and down, but generally down. The infection has raised havoc with swelling and pain in both of his legs (knees) so he has been unable to walk without the help of the physical therapists the past three days. The nephrologist is recommending dialysis unless his kidney function improves by Monday (yes, tomorrow). Removing the toxins through dialysis may likely give the infection a better chance to heal. We cannot let the infection continue, so anything that may help it heal must be considered. Normally this would be a temporary move to restore kidney function and improve overall health, but in the case of Chronic Kidney Disease, this could mean he is on dialysis permanently; hence our hesitancy to do it. However, it might be the best choice. We are discussing it with the medical doctors and with each other and also with God...well, especially with God. This is a set-back in body and mind and spirit and we are asking, "Really?! You have shrunk the 11 tumors in Greg's lungs down to only two tiny spots and you have decreased his thigh tumor by over half, and now this? Is this really a part of the story, God?" In the middle of it all we know that some things never change: Our God can do exceedingly great things. It's just that right now we don't think this is such a great thing, but we also know that we see through a mirror dimly. So we pray and look for clarity. And we trust in God's faithfulness. Ann Voskamp writes, "We give thanks in everything because we fiercely believe that Christ can redeem anything." Once again, thank you for your prayers, well wishes, and standing beside us certain that Christ can redeem anything. We will keep you posted. Greg & Jeane

A Quick Update on Greg's Hospital Stay Over Easter

Dear Friends and Family,   Some of you have heard that Greg is in the hospital again so I thought you would want to know the latest news.

Friday morning Greg woke up with severe chills and vomiting. When his fever topped 103 a couple of hours later we headed for the emergency room. We thought it was just the flu, but found out instead that he had sepsis, a systemic infection in his blood. He was immediately put on a broad spectrum of antibiotics and admitted to the hospital. They spent 2 days waiting for cultures to come back, trying to find out the exact nature of the infection and where it had come from. Late Saturday night part of the mystery was solved when his right leg started to hurt and became hot, red and swollen up to his knee. It turns out he had a blister on his little toe that had popped and allowed an entrance point for bacteria, even though the toe does not even look infected at all! (What a strange deal.) For you medical types out there, the red, swollen leg is Cellulitis. The good news is that the infection was finally identified as a Strep bacteria, which is better than a Staph infection and easier to treat. He was getting a correct mix of antibiotics all the while, so already his white blood count is going down instead of up. We had a scare with his kidney because the kidney function got worse with the fever and infection and one doctor was talking potential dialysis. We prayed for life to come back to his kidney. Thankfully it improved a little yesterday; this morning (Tuesday) his kidney was even better--back to roughly where it had been when he entered the hospital. We give thanks to God who brings new life on Easter Sunday and every other day! Of course when your body is busy fighting cancer the immune system is preoccupied with other things, and that allowed the bacteria to grow and multiply. We caught it early and doctors believe he is on his way to healing and is doing well. No word yet from the doctors when he will get out of the hospital. They want to see more improvement before letting him out. He is in good spirits and feels cooped up and is chomping on the bit to go. My apologies for not getting the word out sooner or responding quickly to those of you who have heard and texted. When your loved one goes into the hospital it's a full-time preoccupation--an energy-sucking thing--especially until the patient stabilizes and you know what's really happening. We hope your Easter was blessed with resurrection of new life from the risen Lord. Ours was! Thank you for who you are and for your prayers that move the heavens. Love, Jeane